Friday, May 21, 2010

Now that I'm due to have a vampire book out in August (fun, not scary, for 3-7 years olds) everyone keeps telling me how timely my book is, because vampires are "in". I'm really excited about that but when I conceived of the book and later, when I wrote it, (pre-TWILIGHT) I had no idea that vampires were so popular.

The book began, as noted in an earlier blog, with a game I used to play with my daughter when she was little. "Tickle me, Mommy," she used to say, when she got home from school. "Please?"

So we played the vampire game. I'd tell her a vampire was coming to dinner and she ought to be a good host and, well, let him have something to eat. Or drink. And she'd do her best to keep me from tickling her neck. Many years later, and gradually, the idea of A VAMPIRE IS COMING TO DINNER grew out of that game.

Now that my daughter is sixteen, she doesn't ask me to tickle her when she comes home from school anymore. But I think she's pleased that she inspired a book and I sure am glad we played the game way back then. Because, sometimes, playing is the most important work a writer can do.